Author: Alphabet®

Alphabet®

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industry

Alphabet® Wins Two Summit Creative Awards for Work with Tourism Kingston

We’re proud to announce that we’ve won not one but two 2022 Summit Creative Awards for our recent work with Tourism Kingston. The Summit Creative Awards recognize outstanding advertising and marketing communications internationally among small and medium-sized agencies.

“I can’t wait until you get here”

A gold winner in the Travel/Tourism/Nature Video category, the “I can’t wait until you get here” brand anthem video for Tourism Kingston came together over the course of two years. Partnering with Kingston-based Untold Storytelling, filming began in 2019 and wrapped in 2021, capturing footage from all four seasons.

The video tells the story of two people reuniting in a place that’s close to their hearts, a vibrant, charming city where people meet, connect, and create lasting memories: Kingston, Ontario.

The video was publicly launched for the first time in late 2021 and will continue to be at the core of Tourism Kingston’s marketing presence for years to come.

“Closer”

Winning a bronze trophy in the Integrated Campaign – Consumer category, the “Closer” campaign for Tourism Kingston launched in 2021 as leisure travel began to rebound from COVID-19.

We knew that people were tired of being kept apart, so we leaned into this truth but also people’s desire to reconnect to the experiences they love most, like going out for dinner, strolling through a gallery, or perusing a downtown boutique – all of which you can do in Kingston.

At the same time, there was a burgeoning movement toward supporting local, with consumers poised to spend their dollars at local restaurants, shops, and attractions. We leveraged this insight and communicated Kingston’s close proximity to its target markets of Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal while tugging at the heart strings of our audience.

Want to learn more about our work with Tourism Kingston? Check out our case study here.

Alphabet®

Alphabet®

Categories

awards & events

Alphabet® Brings Home Two Summit Media Awards

2021 is starting in a big way! We’re excited to announce that Alphabet® has brought home not one but two Summit International Emerging Media Awards 🎉:

  1. The Digital Campaign Leader Award for our work on the Canadian Real Estate Association’s REALTOR.ca Living Room content hub
  2. The Innovator Award for CREA’s REAL TIME podcast. 

The Summit International Awards honour the best digital marketing campaigns from creative agencies worldwide. The Emerging Media category celebrates campaigns that leverage new media types and technologies for a return on investment.

So, what made our work stand out from the over 1,200 submissions?

REAL TIME Podcast

A few years ago, we ran a national speaking series for the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). The series was to provide CREA’s member group of 130,000 REALTORS® with an incredible value they can’t get elsewhere—conversations with well-known experts in the fields of real estate and home design. The response to the event was astounding. CREA’s members had signaled they are hungry for valuable and insightful content and thus, the REAL TIME podcast was born.

Alphabet® works hand-in-hand with CREA to produce REAL TIME on a monthly cadence. We map out the high-level structure for the show and provide strategic recommendations on the flow of content and what topics to cover per episode.

Since launching the first REAL TIME episode in March of 2020 to the end of the year, there have been 12,705 total downloads and listens, with 27,000 website sessions for https://www.crea.ca/podcast/. 

We are underway on Season 2 of REAL TIME, with an exciting slate of guests and topics. You can check out the latest episode about integrating wellness into your home design, featuring HGTV star and author Tiffany Pratt—hosted by veteran Canadian broadcaster Erin Davis.

We’re so happy CREA is always open to new and creative ideas. When they pitched the idea for a podcast, we jumped on it quickly. Having a partner who is open to experimenting with new forms of communication makes things a lot easier (and way more fun).

Living Room Content Hub

REALTOR.ca is one of the most visited sites among Canadians. A complete one-stop destination for homeowners and first-time buyers. REALTOR.ca has information on residential and commercial property listings, provides access to qualified REALTORS®, and is the location of Living Room, a content hub about all things home—from market trends and real estate to design ideas and home improvement tips.

Leveraging a diverse team of content contributors, Alphabet® works with CREA to produce between 25 and 30 unique pieces of content each month for Living Room, in both of Canada’s official languages. We also run a paid media program optimized to drive users to the website.

If you’re curious about what Living Room has to offer, we recommend the blog’s most popular neighbourhood guide to date, The Prettiest Town in Canada? Goderich, Ontario.

We wear the Digital Campaign Leader Award as a badge of honour because in the last 12 months, REALTOR.ca has seen:

  • 40,188,814 Ad impressions
  • 526,832 Ad clicks
  • 960,100 Website sessions (+83.6% Year over Year)
  • 4,300,000 Pageviews (+31.3% Year over Year)
  • 41,186 Social Followers (+7,532 new social followers in 12 months or 22.4% increase Year over Year)
  • 83,972,405 Social Impressions (+163% Year over Year)
  • 882,923 Social Engagements (+79% Year over Year)

Those numbers are following suit in 2021, with new content types being added and collaborations in the works. We just celebrated the 3-year anniversary of Living Room and look forward to growing the content program even further.

You can view our full case study to see how we’ve helped grow The Canadian Real Estate Association brand over the years. Is your business in need of a robust content marketing strategy to help bring more eyeballs to your cause? Drop us a line so we can help tell your story.

Alphabet®

Alphabet®

Categories

campaigns - design - digital marketing

The allure of Minto Morgan’s Creek

Minto’s newest boutique community in beautiful Kanata, Ontario, offers terrace and townhomes with a charming creek running through the landscape of this intimate community.

Alphabet® was tasked with developing an engaging brand to resonate with first-time buyers and investors.

We first developed a name for the new community by looking to Morgan’s Grant — a sold-out Minto Community across the road — for inspiration. Morgan’s Creek was the natural solution, combining the trust and prestige of the existing landmark community with the natural assets of the land.

Alphabet® designed a proprietary font specifically for this community. The precise angles and strong lines of the logo resonated with the tech-savvy target market while a sweeping line connecting the “E”s represents the creek running through the community.

The new logo, coupled with a bold, light blue aquamarine was attention-grabbing while also harmonizing with the other Minto Communities brands.

Alphabet®

Alphabet®

Categories

culture

Our Favourite 2019 Moments

Last year was an incredible one for Alphabet®. It brought us new team members, new clients, new projects, new challenges, and new reasons to re-stock the beer fridge and celebrate! It’s hard to fit 12 months of awesomeness into one blog post so we whittled down the list of our favourite moments to share with you.

Getting behind the Farinella pizza counter during the scavenger hunt.

Chris

Being on stage at the TIAO awards as part of the Visit Kingston team.

Marley

When Patrick and I destroyed Regan and Tony at shuffleboard at the Minto Christmas Party.

Hannah

Alphabet® Shorts

Some of our favourite moments received star treatment and were immortalized as short films (sound on for maxiumum enjoyment).

The Agency Rock-off was a lot of fun. The Alphabeats were awesome (as usual – despite the online rumours).

-Cindy

Organizing the pumpkin carving contest.

-Gord

One of the highlights for me was developing the brand for Parque das Aves, a bird refuge and sanctuary in Brazil. It is fulfilling to know that our work is helping to forge a movement to save the bird population in the Altantic Rainforest.

Yang

Jessica’s pregnancy accouncement!

Cathy

Snacks.

Sadie

That time when Chris casually popped his dislocated shoulder back in at the baseball tournament.

Tarynn

TikTok vs. TedTalk 

What follows is the transcript of a very real conversation that occurred in the design studio and is Sarah’s favourite moment:

Sarah: I downloaded [indistinguable mumbling] over the weekend and I’m obsessed with it.

Yang: Oh, I love that app!

Sarah: Really? Oh my god. Isn’t it amazing what The Teens are doing? They’re so hilarious. I’m really into the dances. It’s like Vine came back to life stronger than ever before.

Yang: I like to watch the ones that are more about design and philosophy.

Sarah: Philosophy?

Yang: What do you mean, dances?

Sarah: What are you talking about?

Yang: What are you talking about?

Sarah: I’m talking about TIK TOK, what are you watching?

Yang: I THOUGHT YOU SAID TEDTALK! I’M WATCHING TEDTALKS!

The Kingston Airport project – it was a lot of work for everybody involved but the end results look wonderful.

Cindy

Winning the Pisco Sour Off.

Regan

Thanks 2019, it’s been a slice.

Alphabet®

Alphabet®

Categories

awards & events - culture

Employees Choice Award

Alphabet® has had the honour of winning plenty of marketing and advertising awards for clients over the years, but our most recent award win really left the entire agency with the warm and fuzzies.

We were thrilled to be awarded the 2019 Employees’ Choice Award (ECA) presented by the Ottawa Business Journal and the Ottawa Board of Trade, as it confirmed what we had long suspected: Alphabet® is a great place to work.

The OBJ’s ‘Employees’ Choice Awards is a survey and awards program dedicated to identifying and recognizing the area’s best employers and providing organizations with valuable employee feedback.

The award is driven by real feedback and opinions from employees, and we couldn’t be prouder with what everyone had to say.

So what’s it like to work at Alphabet®?

It may be a cliché, but ‘work hard/play hard’ isn’t far from the truth.

Anyone who has worked in an advertising agency will know full well that #agencylife can be pretty stressful; we’re a deadline-driven industry with dozens of projects happening simultaneously – it’s not always an easy job, but everyone at Alphabet® handles their roles with total aplomb.

We recognize that celebrations and creating personal relationships are one of the keys to a happy workplace, so we always take the time to stop, breathe and celebrate all of life’s various milestones: birthdays, babies, weddings, new clients, big projects, holidays, and when there isn’t a specific event, well, frankly, we just make one up (see our suite of ‘Cocktail Competition’ videos on Instagram).

Alphabet® is a fantastic place to work, and here are some awesome things our work family had to say:

I’ve finally found a place where my dad jokes are appreciated! 

I have 100% trust in the people around me.

We have fun doing great work, that’s the atmosphere I love. Everyday feels well lived and worthy.

Alphabet®

Alphabet®

Categories

campaigns - digital marketing

Tunes about ticks

Mention the word “tick” to anyone, and you’re sure to get some kind of reaction: from looks of disgust to full-body shivers and even panicked screams of “IS THERE ONE ON ME?”

They are nasty little suckers for sure, but they also present a very serious danger — Lyme Disease. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists needed a hand spreading awareness of Lyme disease and its creepy-crawly carriers. It’s clear that Lyme Disease is something that should be on everyone’s radar during (especially during tick season), but why talk about it when you can…sing about it?

The magical duo of Tony and Patrick (watch out Nashville) worked together to write what is now affectionately known as the “Lyme Disease Jingle,” with local musicians bringing the song to life with the backwoods twang of a banjo and a campy melody. Why listen to Lover when you can spend the same amount of time bopping along to our folksy track and learn all about prevention, symptoms, and treatment of Lyme Disease? (Just kidding, Taylor Swift forever 💘)

Have a listen below (make sure your sound is turned on).

Stay tuned for an update on our imminent invitation to the JUNO awards.

Alphabet®

Alphabet®

Categories

campaigns

The synergy of Minto’s Harmony

Minto Communities was developing a property to entice young families searching for beautiful, affordable housing to call home.

Alphabet® needed to create a community brand that resonated with younger families while promoting inclusivity to align with Barrhaven’s diverse population. The new community was named Harmony.

Our methodology led to the creation of a community moniker synonymous with the coexistence of families from varied cultural backgrounds while reinforcing Minto’s desire for an identifier that instantly represented a sense of belonging, togetherness, and diversity.

A simple, four-pointed shape inspired by the lotus flower in a beautiful teal was the perfect icon to represent both Harmony’s identity, and the connectedness and synergy it stands for.

Alphabet® also created a series of engaging environmental graphics to launch the new community brand, ranging from sales centre executions to billboards and community promotional pieces. The end result helped Minto Harmony become so sought after, that all available homes in the first release sold out in a matter of minutes.

Alphabet®

Alphabet®

Categories

culture

Delusions of Grandeur: The Alphabeats Take On Ottawa

You probably haven’t heard of Ottawa-based rock-band The Alphabeats yet, but band manager Regan Mathurin assures me you will – and soon.

She, along with Irish super-producer Tony Lyons and the band’s seven members, meet me at a small hole-in-the-wall in Ottawa’s Little Italy to discuss The Alphabeats’ upcoming battle of the band’s performance, as well as the release of their debut album ‘Time (Sheets)’.

“When I discovered the Alphabeats, I was actually CEO of a creative agency called Alphabet,” Regan says while sipping on a nonfat, no-foam, quad-cappuccino. “But after hearing their incendiary sound, I said screw it. I knew that Tony and I had a higher calling, and after buying some leather pants, I quit on the spot. This raw talent needed to be shared with the world.”

Lyons smirks at the statement. “I had been looking for a very… specific group of artists ever since my falling out with U2,” he begins. “I wanted a band that I could mold into something unique. I’m not saying that The Alphabeats are it, but you know, maybe they could be after I’m done with them.”

Lead singer Hannah Bock (whom some may recognize from the failed early-2000’s Canadian girl group ‘Seasoned Ladies’), rolls her eyes at the comment. “Whatever, you pox-bottle. I mean, we’re good – but our sound is kind of like a gas station sandwich: it’s not quite what you’re expecting, but it will probably get the job done. And then haunt you for a couple days afterwards.”

Drummer Mike, perhaps the most seasoned and experienced member of The Alphabeats, and devout Scientologist sighs dramatically whilst reaching for a buttermilk scone. ”What we’re about to bring to Ottawa next week – people won’t be able to handle it. It’s the living embodiment of our ancestral thetan culture. Like, on the night man – the spiritual leader will return to reclaim his world. It’s gonna be huge dude – that’s why we’re singing ‘I want you back’ … it’s a summoning man, so we’ll be celebrating by doing coke off of Demi Lovato’s butt crack. I mean, I assume, anyway. That’s usually what happens, right?”

Just a month ago, this ragtag group of musicians were working at local agency Alphabet, flexing their creative muscles in a different capacity. “It was a great experience. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thrilled that clients won’t be removing my Oxford commas anymore,” guitarist, lyricist and former copywriter Sarah Houghton says. “Although those experiences did lead to one of my favourite tracks on our new album. It’s called ‘Oxford Comma Drama’.”

Former Senior Art Director and keyboardist Yang Li agrees: “Yes.”

“Fuck Bono,” Lyons mumbles under his whiskey-laden breath, flashing a partially toothy grin.

“That stumpy git owes me a fiver. And don’t even get me started about The Edge – the edge of what? Me arse … baldy swine.”

Rounding out the band are bodacious backing singers Jessica Evans (aka J-Dough, aka Sudbury Sally, aka Kim Cardashboard), Marley Kirkpatrick (aka SRBeesotch, aka The Mooch) and Christopher Chai (aka … Christopher Chai), who silently lurk behind Mathurin and Lyons in what can only be described as an homage to Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku girl days – “They’re basically the Posh Spices of the group,” Mathurin tells me. “They’re super pretty to look at, don’t make a fuss, and will probably marry soccer stars.”

The 613 Agency Rock-Off takes place Thursday, November 22 at Ottawa’s Rainbow Bistro, where The Alphabeats will square off against other agency heavyweights like Greenmelon Inc, Syncopate Media, Salt, and McMillan for the title of Ottawa’s best interagency band.

“This is just the beginning,” Lyons tells me. “If we don’t win this thing Rob Hyams gets a wedgie, you mark my words.”

Alphabet®